Sports icon has been working city parks for more than six decades

Bill Whittaker's coaching legacy has been honored by Hall of Champions

Bill Whittaker, 85, has worked for San Diego's Parks & Recreation Department for 66 years. He mainly works at Morley Field and has a Little League baseball diamond named after him. He's a High School Coaching Legend honored at the Hall of Champions.
— Sean M. Haffey

Bill Whittaker, 85, has worked for San Diego's Parks & Recreation Department for 66 years. He mainly works at Morley Field and has a Little League baseball diamond named after him. He's a High School Coaching Legend honored at the Hall of Champions.
— Sean M. Haffey

It’s the word that comes up over and over again when those who know “Coach” Bill Whittaker talk about the 85-year-old who has worked for San Diego’s Parks and Recreation Department for the past 66 years.

A list of friends he’s made through his involvement with the city recreation department and coaching at his alma mater St. Augustine High School reads like the roster of the San Diego Hall of Champions.

He coached major league baseball players such as former Padres and Los Angeles Angels pitcher John D’Acquisto and Deron Johnson, who played 17 years for numerous teams including the Yankees.

He’s probably the only person who might say all-time great Maureen Connolly could be a “little brat” on the Balboa Tennis Club courts if the lights weren’t on when she thought they should be.

His work with some of the best athletes to come out of San Diego ended long ago, though he still has many happy memories, and one painful reminder of former NFL MVP and six-time Pro Bowler Marcus Allen. He badly injured his left knee during a tackling demonstration while preparing his St. Augustine Saints for Allen and Lincoln High in the mid-1970s.

More recently, Whittaker was seen about 16 hours a week at Balboa Park’s Morley Field cruising around in a city-branded golf cart making sure people have their proper permits and patrolling to make sure park-goers were safe.

But he has been on medical leave for two weeks to undergo knee replacement surgery scheduled Aug. 9, and hopes to make his return Sept. 30.

His children advised him against having the surgery at this stage in his life, but Whittaker is moving ahead.

“You’ll tell him, ‘Dad, promise me you’ll cut back on work,’ and he’ll sit there and lie to your face. He’s always been that way — he’s always loved his work.”

Began coaching at 14

Whittaker made a career out of coaching nearly every sport that requires a field or a court.

His first coaching gig was at the age of 14 when he was asked to return to his elementary school, Our Lady of Angels, to coach the eighth-grade baseball team.

After he graduated from high school, he took a job as a city recreation aide at Golden Hill Playground. Whittaker officially started at the city on May 5, 1946 — before the Chargers football team existed and when the Padres were a minor-league baseball team.

He continued to coach for the Saints and occasionally took coaching jobs at Our Lady of Angels to allow his seven children to attend private Catholic schools.

He helped start low-cost, city-sponsored baseball, football and basketball leagues all over San Diego to allow all children to play sports, even if their parents didn’t have the money to pay for equipment or uniforms.

With all his different coaching and management duties, it was common for Whittaker to work 16-hour days, which made his retirement and reduction to 16-hour work weeks several years ago a little difficult to handle, Billy Whittaker said.

Susan Lowery-Mendoza, the Balboa Park district manager for San Diego who has known Whittaker since the early 1990s, said that he is still a major asset, despite his shorter hours and limited mobility.

“When I think of Bill, I think of him as being the ambassador for our department,” she said. “He just has a way of approaching people in a way that is nonconfrontational and is able to relate to each and every group to remain order.”

Whittaker is the city’s longest-tenured employee in history, and while one might expect him to receive a fat pension for his years of service, he won’t be collecting any money from the city aside from his investment from a 401(k)-like program he contributed to.

Whittaker had a pension at one point, but was given the option to cash it out decades ago and chose to do it — his daughters needed dental work.

‘He’s a local icon’

It’s nearly impossible to talk with those in San Diego’s sports circles and find people who don’t want to share a story about Coach Whittaker or tell you what a great guy he is.

“He’s a local icon, there’s no other way to put it,” said Steve Brand, the awards coordinator for the San Diego Hall of Champions.

Whittaker was honored as one of San Diego County’s High School Coaching Legends at the hall in 2004 and has a Little League diamond named in his honor at Morley Field. May 13, 1996, was declared Bill Whittaker day in San Diego, and he celebrated his 66th anniversary with the city this year.

Despite all the accolades and time on the job, he said he isn’t ready to leave his job.

“I’d never quit just to quit. I just love to be here,” Whittaker said as he took two high school students and his wife of 62 years, Jacquie, on a Morley Field tour. “The only way I’d stop is if I become a hindrance.”

Lowery-Mendoza from the Parks and Recreation Department said she doesn’t think that will happen any time soon.